Brisbane Strikers FC

Brisbane Strikers commenced their existence in 1994 in Australia’s then premier club competition, the National Soccer League (NSL), and are widely considered to be one of Queensland’s most iconic and successful premier football clubs. Initially the Brisbane Strikers were owned by the Queensland Soccer Federation, which handed the running of the club to a Trust Management Group composed of Ian Brusasco (a former President of the Queensland Soccer Federation and the Australian Soccer Federation), Dr Clem Jones (former Lord Mayor of Brisbane) and leading football official Frank Speare. The club operates out of Perry Park on Abbotsford Road in Bowen Hills and also uses Meakin Park in Slacks Creek as a Junior Academy training venue. The club is fortunate to have access to substantial facilities at both locations. Our home base at Perry Park, in close proximity to the Brisbane CBD, offers an excellent main pitch, secondary training grass pitch and synthetic training area all of which are maintained to the highest standard and serviced by six dressing rooms, match quality floodlighting, and underground irrigation. Along with the playing facilities the venue has a licensed clubhouse, undercover grandstand facilities for 1200 spectators (current ground capacity is 4000) and corporate function areas. The facility is an oft-used venue for international teams training, representative, exhibition and finals matches due to the outstanding facilities on site. In 2008 as part of FFA and Football Queensland’s goal of enhancing career pathways across Queensland and providing a platform between the local and national competitions, the Strikers saw a position in the Queensland State League (QSL) as a natural “fit” with the club’s own player development ethos. An application to join the new State competition was accepted and the club once again put its best foot forward on playing fields from Brisbane to Townsville in the inaugural QSL season. In 2013 the Strikers were accepted into the National Premier Leagues (NPL), the result of Football Federation Australia’s National Competitions Review which recommended the establishment of a new second-tier competition nationwide. The Strikers were included alongside 11 other clubs who were chosen from a field of over 20 who submitted bids for inclusion in the Queensland division. Each club that gained a licence in the new competition was to field elite junior teams as well as a senior men’s team. This was a landmark development for the Strikers because it enabled the club to fully embrace the vision of its former Chairman, Dr Jones, who had envisioned the Strikers as a vehicle for equipping the most talented young Queensland footballers to play professional football. The competition provides a pathway for young players into the Hyundai A-League, Foxtel National Youth League and overseas opportunities. The NPL concept also committed each club to improve the standard of coaching of young footballers across the board, and to identify elite players who are capable of playing at NPL level and beyond. Meakin Park in Logan serves as our training venue for juniors and youth. The Brisbane Strikers are continuing to deliver on the two primary objectives that have shaped our approach to date – identifying and developing the talents of locally-based footballers with a view to preparing them for the elite levels of the game, while playing in the highest standard of competition available to the club.